GREENFIELD — Despite 21 entities having secured active host community agreements with the city to operate marijuana businesses since they were legalized in 2016, only one facility is operational.
That may change soon, however, as some businesses take the final licensing steps, a process that Constant S. Poholek Jr., owner and president of Green River Cannabis Co. at 398 Deerfield St., attested has been slower than anticipated due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and abundant requests to the state Cannabis Control Commission.
Poholek said he hopes to have “the final rubber stamp” to open his dispensary by October.
“We’re 100% built out, with a certificate of occupancy,” he said. “We’re still waiting on the Cannabis Control Commission, which is the final step.”
Aside from Green River Cannabis Co., 20 other businesses have active host community agreements to operate cultivation sites, dispensaries, manufacturing facilities or delivery operations, for example. Per zoning bylaws, the city caps the number of allowed delivery operators to four, and the brick-and-mortar retailers to eight, according to Department of Planning and Development Director Eric Twarog. In both those use categories, the maximum number of host community agreements have been issued.
Of the active host community agreements, eight special permits have been issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Patriot Care, the retail dispensary at 7 Legion Ave., is the only establishment that is operational.
Twarog said renovations are also complete at 51 Davis St., where another retail shop is expected to open soon. Meanwhile, Twarog said renovations have started at grow facilities at 15 Arch St. and 393 Leyden Road, as well as a retail shop at 49 Bank Row.
“What an applicant doesn’t realize is the amount of time that goes in from the moment they decide (to open a shop),” Poholek explained. “Two years can go by very easily by the time you get through all the government regulations. Realistically, it’ll be a while before all the retail stores will be up and operational.”
Poholek, who originally expected to open last fall, said the process has been slowed down for him as a result of COVID-related delays, as well as delays with the state licensing process.
“With the amount of new dispensaries that are coming on board — we’re upwards of close to 400 in Massachusetts — it’s really kind of overloaded the Cannabis Control Commission,” he said.
Since 2019, when Patriot Care opened a retail marijuana shop, the cannabis industry has brought in $575,096 in local receipts and $551,825 toward OPEB (other post-employment benefits) stabilization through stipulations outlined in host community agreements, as well as a 3% local impact charge to retailers and another 3% in sales tax, Finance Director Liz Gilman informed city councilors during an April budget presentation.
Poholek said he chose Greenfield in part because he felt western Massachusetts was a “lucrative market.”
“The particular location we have is … surrounded by a river with mountains in the background,” he noted, commenting on the rural element of the region.
The dispensary, to be located in the former Green Acres Bar and Grille, offers the opportunity for expansion, he said.
Poholek said the shop will have a local focus, working with area growers and wholesalers. He plans to be open seven days per week, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
“Our hope is to be a little different than the next cannabis store,” Poholek said of the number of active host community agreements in Greenfield. “Every cannabis store has some type of attraction — ours is we want to be pet-friendly.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.
An earlier version of this story lacked the most up-to-date number of host community agreements that the city has signed with business owners. This version also clarifies the cap that the city has on brick-and-mortar retail marijuana establishments and delivery operators.